First published in The Journal Gazette
I felt like I stepped into a parallel universe.
Inflation is all over the news. Sports fans are crazy about their teams. The weather is unseasonably warm. The political environment is divided along ideological lines. Voters are flirting with the idea of voting for a far-right populist candidate in a national election. Except I wasn’t in the United States, I was in Argentina.
It was an early afternoon in downtown Buenos Aires, a great day to stroll over the dead. I stepped out onto the walkway of a heavily promoted tourist attraction and paid to enter Cementerio de la Recoleta. Recoleta is an affluent neighborhood of Argentina’s capital city, and the cemetery contains the remains of some of Argentina’s most respected leaders, including Eva Perón, known as Evita; Adm. William Brown, founder of Argentina’s navy; and former President Domingo Faustino.
The cemetery contains rows and rows of crypts and towering marble monuments. Some of the monuments blocked the sun’s light, causing eerie shadows to rise and the narrow walkways in front of me to darken. But I had no fear because I was around several tourists and audience-driven tour guides. I find watching other tourists snapping pictures more exciting than looking at old monuments.
Stepping out from the overrated tourist attraction, I headed north.
The Centro Cultural Recoleta was close by. The face of the event center was lit with flickering colorful lights. There were lines of pop-up white canopies where vendors sell sweets, sandwiches, clothes and jewelry. This was a festival, but not just any festival. This was a festival where college students display their art and the community comes out to show support.
I walked inside the center, where loud pop music played in Spanish. There was beautiful artwork hanging in each of the rooms and several enthusiastic and chatty college students carelessly moving from space to space.
The place was alive. At the end of the hall, there was an unadvertised upstairs area where a student stood and talked while pointing to a solid white sculpture in the shape of a triangle. I stood with a group and smiled. I don’t understand Spanish, but I enjoyed the sculpture and the company.
Another morning – an unseasonably warm late fall day in June (seasons are flipped in the Southern Hemisphere) – I took a hop-on, hop-off bus tour. I sat close to other tourists from the United States.
During my bus ride, I received a currency lecture from my new U.S. friends. Their advice to me was to carry U.S. dollars because I can negotiate with businesses to get better prices, they say. Argentinians view the U.S. dollar as stable. The Argentine peso value changes so fast that menus at restaurants can change daily and price tags on items in stores may not be accurate at the checkout counter.
There’s also a black market for currency exchange, because the Argentine government has created a complex set of rules for currency exchange that includes taxes to discourage Argentinians’ dependence on the U.S. dollar.
I stepped down from the bus onto the cobblestone streets in the famous Caminito. It is a small historic neighborhood with colorful two- and three-story buildings, different architecture and funny sculpted statues and murals that explain the area’s history. There are souvenir shops, bars and restaurants and street performers who dance the tango behind tip buckets. I walked away after about 20 minutes. Caminito is a tourist trap.
I proceeded on foot to Puerto Madero so I could see the city. This walk isn’t for everyone, and I don’t recommend it. But I saw the outside of La Bombonera, one of Buenos Aires’ most famous soccer stadiums and home to the Boca Juniors. The stadium is shaped like a chocolate box. I walked in neighborhoods with lines of homes that still have signs celebrating Argentina’s 2022 World Cup win.
Argentinians love their soccer. In fact, the victory parade to celebrate the World Cup champions was halted, then abruptly canceled, because too many people wanted to get a glimpse of the winning team. On the side of a few commercial buildings are large advertisements for the newly released Amazon Prime TV show “Barrabrava.” What’s it about? You guessed it. Soccer! I only heard of the show in Buenos Aires.
Arriving in Puerto Madero, I saw slick skyscrapers and beautiful refurbished brick buildings that give a sophisticated look reminiscent of a futuristic city. Puerto Madero is a booming business district with energetic nightlife. The riverfront of the Rio de la Plata is lined with fancy restaurants and nightclubs. The modern El Puente de la Mujer (Women’s Bridge) is the area’s famous landmark. All the street names in Puerto Madero are feminine.
I continued to walk to the Floralis Generica. It’s a large stainless-steel and aluminum flower sculpture that opens in the morning and closes in the evening, using solar panels in its petals.
During the next couple of days, I went to the Japanese Garden, the Museum of Art of Latino America Buenos Aires and the National Railway Museum. All are worth a visit.
Buenos Aires is far away. In fact, it’s a longer direct flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires than from Dallas to Paris. You can’t drive uninterrupted from the United States to Buenos Aires. Although a map of the Americas shows that Central America connects by land to South America, the southern end of Panama is without a road to Colombia.
My advice before you make the long trip is to read reviews of places you want to see, because some of the places I found might disappoint.